Michael Frolik started Friday’s game on the Calgary Flames’ fourth line, away from his usual linemates Matthew Tkachuk and Mikael Backlund, ice time hovering around the two-minute mark.

That lasted a period.

Because as soon as head coach Bill Peters promoted the 30-year-old for the start of the second period — and reunited the 3M trio, which has been a successful line in the past — the game shifted.

And Frolik chimed in on three of the Flames’ four goals in a 4-3 win over the visiting Florida Panthers.

“The first period was not very good from us and we said in the room, ‘This is not acceptable,’” said Frolik, who logged 2:26 of ice time in the opening frame. “It wasn’t good. We weren’t skating. We weren’t executing well and they were all over us. We changed the lines a little bit in the second and it kind of worked … we went back to the ‘M’ line and tried to bring a little bit of energy to that line.”

Mission accomplished.

The Flames have now won four straight, are 7-1-1 since the Christmas break, and finding ways to win when they’re not at their best for portions of the game.

Kind of like Wednesday’s 5-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

And a 4-3 win at Chicago on Jan. 7.

It’s an obvious concern for the Flames head coach.

“Well, the poor play,” Peters said. “We haven’t played well here for a while and it’s been masked by the fact we’ve gotten wins but we haven’t played well.”

Their record wouldn’t indicate that, however, as David Rittich made 24 stops to help the Flames improve to 29-13-4.

Peters was asked to put his finger on why the inconsistent level of play continues to occur.

“Because we continue to win and (the team) think (s), ‘Oh, we’re obviously playing well and that’s good enough and the effort’s good enough and the execution is good enough,’” he said. “When, in reality, it’s not at the level we should be at and can be at.”

The Flames’ first go-ahead goal came from Tkachuk’s stick with 8:29 elapsed in the third period when the left-winger was alone in the slot. He was fed by Frolik, who snapped up a terrible turnover near the Panther’s blueline from Jonathan Huberdeau to go up 3-2.

Then, after a panic-inducing collision between Rasmus Andersson and Mike Matheson, which crashed Rittich’s crease with 1:34 remaining in the final stanza, Sean Monahan potted an empty netter and fended off a wicked Keith Yandle slash in the process. Florida’s Evgenii Dadonov scored with 20 seconds remaining in the final frame.

The turning point for the Flames can be traced back to the second period when Peters promoted Frolik and dropped Austin Czarnik to the fourth line with Andrew Mangiapane and Derek Ryan.

The mindset, the coach explained, was to have all of their trios rolling.

“Then, we fell behind early,” Peters continued. “We didn’t have any jump, so we had to get going with nine guys and get nine guys more ice time and a little bit more of an emotional attachment in the game.

“I didn’t think it was going to have to happen, but it did.”

Until that point, the Flames were flat-footed. Like, really flat-footed.

A Noah Hanifin giveaway right to Mike Hoffman led to Florida’s opening strike just 6:18 into the first period.

Then, Calgary fell behind 2-0 just 20 seconds into the middle frame after Huberdeau tucked a shot five-hole on a breakaway as Travis Hamonic sat off for slashing.

This was not the start the Flames pictured, especially after having a valuable day at practice on Thursday. Not to mention the Panthers had dropped a 4-3 shootout decision to the Edmonton Oilers just 24 hours before.

Their best scoring chance in the opening frame came when Sam Bennett dangled around Mackenzie Weegar and hit Roberto Luongo’s right post.

Calgary showed no signs of any emotion until Jayce Hawryluk took rookie defender Oliver Kylington hard into the boards by the Flames’ bench in the second period. That sparked started a shoving match between him and Weegar and started to fire things up.

“We wanted to take charge and play a lot of minutes and make the most of it,” Backlund said. “I was real disappointed with myself and the team in the first period.

“I wanted to make a change and I thought as a line we took a big step and pushed the team in the right direction.”

Frolik, of course, had something to do with that too.

The move to the second line paid off quickly with a pair of scoring chances in front between Backlund and Tkachuk, which were denied by Luongo early in the second. Then, at the halfway mark of the frame, Frolik deflected Backlund’s shot from the top of the circle to score his 11th of the season and second in as many games.

Frolik also teed up Mark Giordano’s game-tying goal with 4:50 remaining in the second, hitting the captain with a pass just as the Flames entered the offensive zone. A screen from Tkachuk in front helped obstruct Luongo’s vision which Panthers head coach Bob Boughner unsuccessfully challenged as goaltender interference.

By the way, Frolik has eight points in seven games since he was a healthy scratch on Dec. 29.

His parents, Stanislav and Zdenka, arrived on Thursday night from the Czech Republic and were in the stands for Friday’s game.

“I’m glad they could see that … it’s always nice when they come and you want to show them you can do good,” Frolik said. “Hopefully they didn’t leave the game after the first (period) … I’m just kidding.”